Running Windows 11 on Parallels: It’s Not as Complicated as It Sounds
Alright, here’s the story—getting Windows 11 up and running on Parallels for Mac might seem a bit daunting, but honestly, it’s not too tricky if you’ve got your basics sorted. As long as your Mac isn’t ancient, it should handle it alright. Parallels has some system requirements, but if your machine isn’t from the stone age, you’re probably fine. Here’s how to get stuck into it.
Grab Parallels for Your Mac
First thing, download Parallels from the official website—no mucking around in dodgy corners of the net. Install it just like any other app: click ‘Download’, open the .dmg, and drag Parallels Desktop.app into your Applications folder. Once it’s installed, open it up and activate your license. Make sure your Mac’s hardware’s up to scratch. If it’s giving you grief, you might need to enable hardware virtualization in your Mac’s firmware. This can be a bit fiddly, so check System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General for any alerts.
Download That Windows 11 ISO
You’ll need the Windows 11 install media. Head to Microsoft’s official download page and grab the Windows 11 ISO. Once it’s saved on your Mac, you’ll find it somewhere like C:\Users\diskutil list to identify your disks. For a quick setup though, just using the ISO with Parallels will do the trick.
Set Up Your Virtual Machine
Fire up Parallels and click on New VM. The setup wizard usually makes life easier—just follow the steps. When prompted, point it to the Windows 11 ISO you downloaded. Choose Install Windows or another OS from a DVD or image file. Double-check you’ve selected the right file to avoid any messing about later. Parallels generally picks the OS automatically—that’s the plan anyway.
Configuring Your VM: Here’s the Nitty-Gritty
This part can be a bit fiddly. Before you hit “Start,” click Customize Settings. Allocate at least 4GB of RAM (--memory 4096) and 64GB of disk space to start with. Make sure hardware virtualization (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) is enabled—sometimes you need to do that in your Mac’s firmware settings. In Hardware > CPU & Memory, assign a couple of CPU cores (2 or more). Turn on 3D Acceleration for better graphics performance. For network, leave it on NAT unless you’ve got a specific reason to switch to Bridged mode.
Get Windows 11 Installing
All set? Power up the VM. The Windows installer should look familiar and guide you through the setup. Enter your activation key if you’ve got one (or skip that for now). It’ll ask for language and keyboard layout—sometimes it’s a bit of trial and error, no biggie. Common issues usually happen if the ISO isn’t quite right or resources are tight, so don’t be surprised if you hit a few snags.
After everything’s installed, don’t forget to install Parallels Tools. Just go to Actions > Install Parallels Tools. It’s a game-changer—shared clipboard (Cmd + C and Cmd + V), shared folders, better graphics, you name it. To open the VM menu quickly, hit Ctrl + Command + C. Want it to start automatically when you turn on your Mac? Tweak that in Parallels Desktop > Preferences > Notifications > Startup & Shutdown.
Once it’s all humming, you’ll have Windows 11 sitting side-by-side with macOS in Parallels. Switching between them is dead easy—just click around. Want to share files? Set up shared folders through Parallels Desktop > Preferences > Sharing and get your docs easily accessible from both sides.
Installing Windows 11 on Parallels? Yeah, it takes a bit of patience, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a pretty slick setup. Playing around with CPU, RAM, and disk settings can be a bit of a learning curve, but honestly, it’s worth it. Just a tip—make sure to keep good backups before doing anything major like VM tweaks or Windows updates. To back up your VM, go to Actions > Backup. A bit of prep now can save you heaps of dramas later. Once it’s all good, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.